Simon felt his phone buzz in his pocket, but ignored it. He was trying his hardest to keep a conversation going with the twins, even though every attempt he made to take it beyond political philosophy had so far hit a brick wall. So he took a swig from his water bottle, and tried -- not without a sneaking sense of futility -- to once again get some non-academic chat going.
"So which dorm are you guys living in?" he asked.
"Oh, we don't," said Sasha absent-mindedly. "We live in an apartment on the south side of town, near the beach. Mummy and Daddy set it up for us."
Simon raised an eyebrow. "That sounds very comfortable," he commented, trying without much success to keep a note of sarcasm out of his voice.
"Yeah," said Sasha, oblivious to his tone, "it's so much more convenient, and it
